Duan Yihong was born in an ordinary working-class family in Xinjiang, and he is the youngest of three children. Despite his lack of hard work, he had a great talent for art.
In high school, a chance encounter changed the course of his life.
In the drama "Knowledge is Power" organized by the Chinese teacher, Duan Yihong played the role of a small trader with a good performance. Once, a professor from the Shanghai Theatre Academy visited the school and was deeply attracted by Duan Yihong's performance.
The professor praised him for his talent as an actor and suggested that he further study acting and enter a professional college.
Duan Yihong's dream of being an actor was ignited by this encouragement. He hopefully painted his grand picture to his father, but was thrown cold water. His father wanted him to get a good university and a decent job.
However, Duan Yihong has already made up his mind to become an actor.
In 1992, Duan Yihong, who was unwilling to be ordinary, planned to escape from his hometown and take the train to Beijing alone to take the entrance exam of the Central Academy of Drama. However, due to his lack of professional training, he performed poorly in the interview and was ultimately unsuccessful.
Frustrated, Duan Yihong returned home and had a serious disagreement with his father, but he was unwilling to bow to fate.
In order to pursue his dream, Duan Yihong resolutely decided to enter the Yili Repertory Theatre to study acting despite the opposition of his family. Although he was initially seen as an "outsider", he was not discouraged and practiced the basics diligently every day.
A year later, he finally mastered some acting skills.
In 1993, Duan Yihong went north again to take the exam, and although he passed the exam three times, he still failed in the end. He lost all his confidence, was unwilling to face his family, and just wanted to do a little work in Beijing to make a living.
When the father heard the news, he immediately rushed to Beijing to look for his son, he persuaded him to try again, and used all his savings to fund his son to study in a professional school for a year.
With his father's encouragement, Duan Yihong rekindled hope. In 1994, with enthusiasm, he took the college entrance examination for the third time, and finally was admitted to the Performance Department of the Central Academy of Drama with the first place, and since then he has entered the actor industry.
In 1994, Duan Yihong was admitted to the Performance Department of the Central Academy of Drama and began a new life journey. However, when he first arrived in Beijing, he often felt inferior because of his rural background.
It wasn't until he met his classmate Tao Hong that Duan Yihong's college life ushered in a turning point.
Tao Hong's kindness and thoughtfulness made Duan Yihong feel deep warmth. Once, Tao Hong gave Duan Yihong a mango, he didn't know how to eat it, so he took a bite, and ended up biting the mango core.
At this time, Tao Hong, who was seeing this scene, not only did not laugh at him, but peeled the mango skin for him with his own hands and handed it to him to eat, which made Duan Yihong feel extremely warm.
In his sophomore year, Duan Yihong received an invitation from Tao Hong to go to her house for the New Year. Because he has never had the money to go home, this invitation made him feel the warmth of home. It was from then on that Duan Yihong began to have a crush on Tao Hong.
During college, Tao Hong not only had a sweet appearance, but also a very cheerful personality. She will take the initiative to talk to Duan Yihong and ask him to practice acting together. They worked together seamlessly in the acting class, and Tao Hong was always able to skillfully resolve Duan Yihong's shyness and make him dare to express boldly.
With the passage of time, Duan Yihong gradually opened his heart and shared the story of his hometown and his own growth experience with Tao Hong. Tao Hong did not look down on Duan Yihong because of his background, but appreciated his hard work and talent even more.
Her empathy made Duan Yihong feel very warm.
During a stage play rehearsal, Tao Hong's clothes were accidentally torn. Duan Yihong took off his clothes straight for her to wear, and insisted on completing the rehearsal wearing only a vest. Tao Hong was deeply moved by his actions, and cherished this restrained but very gentlemanly friend even more.
Duan Yihong graduated from the Performance Department of the Central Academy of Drama in 1998 with full honors, but his graduation did not go as smoothly as expected. Faced with a difficult employment environment, he couldn't find a suitable job for a while, so he had to do odd jobs in Beijing to make ends meet.
When Duan Yihong was at a low point in his life, the director of the Central Experimental Theater was attracted by his acting talent and provided him with a precious opportunity. Duan Yihong successfully joined the Central Experimental Theater and began to work, and soon after, the theater merged with the National Theater, and Duan Yihong also became a member of the National Theater.
Although Duan Yihong has found a job, his life is still very difficult. During those days, his income was meagre and he had to rent a small basement. As a newcomer, he received very few roles and often felt very frustrated.
He goes out early and returns late every day to play tricks in various crews, although he is full of enthusiasm, but he always feels that he can't fit in, and in the rare opportunity to go on stage, he can only stand silently in the corner and perform a few short moments.
Duan Yihong saw that his friends around him were running on the road to success, and he also began to question his choice. He was advised to give up and find a secure job.
However, he knew that this was his long-held dream, his life's pursuit, and although the road ahead was as complicated as a labyrinth, he was determined to keep going.
In 1999, Duan Yihong's life took a major turn. He successfully portrayed the role of the killer Luo Yang in "The True Colors of the Criminal Police", and he emerged for the first time. For this role, he repeatedly practiced a marksmanship move thousands of times and put in great effort.
This laid the foundation for his counterattack.
Duan Yihong has an incomparable love and dedication to acting, so he is known as a "drama maniac". He puts his heart and soul into every role, striving for perfection endlessly. Once, in order to figure out the details of a drug addict, he went to observe countless addicts.
He will feel each character in an all-round way physically and mentally, just to create a three-dimensional and vivid character.
It was this passion for acting that supported him to come out of the predicament and stick to his dream. Duan Yihong once said: "I am willing to be a slave for the play." This sentence is not only his belief, but also the secret of his success.
After years of hard work and perseverance, Duan Yihong finally ushered in a fruitful return. In 2006, he played the role of Yuan Lang in the hit drama "Soldier Assault", which made him famous in one fell swoop and successfully opened up his popularity.
The role of Yuan Lang not only made the audience remember Duan Yihong, but also let people in the industry see his strength.
Immediately afterwards, Duan Yihong played the role of "Dragon Article" in "My Leader, My Group", and his superb acting skills were once again recognized by the audience. The success of these two roles not only established Duan Yihong's status in the film and television industry, but also made him gradually become a powerful actor on the screen and won the love of countless audiences.
Duan Yihong treats each role with dedication and strives for perfection. His professionalism and dedication to acting have enabled him to create vivid and three-dimensional characters. In order to better interpret the character, he will do a lot of preparation.
For example, in order to figure out the details of a drug addict, he even observed many addicts, just to be able to show the state of the character more realistically.
In the TV series "The True Colors of the Criminal Police", Duan Yihong played the role of the killer Luo Yang, and his marksmanship was refined by him thousands of times and kept improving. His precise control of details and dedication to the role make his acting skills always leave a deep impression on the audience.
Duan Yihong once said: "I am willing to be a slave for the play." These words are his belief and the secret of his success. His love and dedication to acting have made him gradually become a powerful tough guy on the screen from an unknown actor.
Today's Duan Yihong has become a powerful actor on the screen and is deeply loved by the audience. He used his own experience to explain to us the truth of "one minute on stage, ten years of work off the stage", and praised the power of persisting in dreams.
Duan Yihong, who has struggled from hardship, proved with his own strength that as long as he makes unremitting efforts, he will usher in his own bright stage, and his legendary story is not only his own glory, but also sets a glorious example for the majority of young people with the dream of being an actor.
In 2002, Duan Yihong's life trajectory took an important turn. During the filming of the movie "Proof of Memory", he met and fell in love with his Japanese sister Wang Jin. Although their backgrounds differed dramatically — Wang Jin came from a wealthy family in Inner Mongolia with parents engaged in international trade, while Duan Yihong came from an ordinary rural family — that didn't stop them from growing in bonding.
After the shooting, Wang Jin specially gave Duan Yihong a pair of gloves and a shirt button. Duan Yihong noticed Wang Jin's careful thinking: in Japan culture, girls will give the second button of their shirt to the boy they like to express their sincerity.
Despite the poverty of his family, Duan Yihong chose to give in without hesitation for the sake of love.
After Duan Yihong took the initiative to ask Wang Jin to come out to meet, their relationship quickly warmed up. On the way home to send Wang Jin, the brave Wang Jin finally expressed his sincerity to Duan Yihong.
In this way, the two hearts met and broke into the palace of love.
A few years later, they began a long-distance relationship. Although Duan Yihong's career fell into a trough during that time, Wang Jin never gave up and always firmly supported him. Wang Jin's companionship is particularly precious to Duan Yihong, and has become his spiritual pillar in the face of all difficulties.
In the winter of 2007, the temperature in Beijing was extremely low. Wang Jin heard that Duan Yihong's father was sick and hospitalized, but he didn't know about it at work. Wang Jin ignored the cold and immediately rushed to the hospital to take care of his seriously ill father-in-law.
In order not to affect Duan Yihong's work, she kept it a secret from him until her father's operation was completed, and Duan Yihong rushed home to visit her father and saw Wang Jin's intimate care, praised her as a good girl, and hoped that her son would marry her home as soon as possible.
This love across identities and regions has witnessed Duan Yihong and Wang Jin's unswerving loyalty and mutual support, and has also added rich colors to Duan Yihong's life.
Duan Yihong and Wang Jin created happiness together after marriage, Wang Jin gradually withdrew from the showbiz and served as Duan Yihong's virtuous helper wholeheartedly. She is not only a solid backing for her husband's career, but also a filial and considerate daughter-in-law.
Wang Jin is very filial to her in-laws and often buys gifts for them. After Duan's father died, her mother-in-law was alone in her hometown, in order not to make her mother-in-law feel lonely, Wang Jin would take her to Beijing every year to live for a while, and then send her back to her hometown.
This thoughtfulness made the mother-in-law very satisfied with this daughter-in-law.
Duan Yihong's acting career has made great progress with the full support of his spouse, and his outstanding performances in many works have made him a recognized powerful actor in the film industry.
Duan Yihong treats each role wholeheartedly and constantly breaks through himself, which has won unanimous praise from the audience and industry insiders.
It is worth mentioning that Duan Yihong and Wang Jin are a couple living happily and have never had any scandals in the past 11 years. In the entertainment industry, which is full of temptations and turmoil, their relationship can withstand the test and become a model couple in the circle.
Today's Duan Yihong has not only achieved great success in his career, but also has a happy family and has become a winner in life. From a poor rural boy to a movie superstar today, his life experience is very inspiring, and not only that, but he has also gone from an ignorant crush to a happy marriage.
His story tells us that as long as we have dreams in our hearts and move forward, we will definitely achieve our goals. Duan Yihong used his own experience to confirm the truth of "one minute on stage, ten years off stage", and showed the power to realize dreams.
Duan Yihong's success is not only a personal victory, but also an inspiration to all young people who have dreams of being an actor. His story tells us that as long as we don't give up, we will eventually usher in our own dawn.
Under the dual nourishment of career and love, Duan Yihong has achieved a gorgeous transformation from obscurity to a tough guy on the screen, and has become a real winner in life.